Kaspersky Free Online Scanner

[Chloe Sarnoff]

Kasperskyis a free, online antivirus program that is used to detect and report all types of malware, spyware, and viruses. It allows you to see what kind of viruses are getting through your system and decide if your computer's antivirus is effectively eliminating them or not. At the end of the scan, the program lists any infections that it has come across on your PC.

The scanner window will open in your web browser. Read the User Agreement, and click Accept. (If you're using Internet Explorer, you will be asked to download an Active X control, which you should do.)

N.B. It may be necessary to disable the your antivirus to avoid potential conflicts. You should avoid downloading files and surfing the internet during this time as your machine is temporarily unprotected. Once the scan is complete, remember to reactivate your antivirus.

Please keep in mind this is not a finished product so we are especially interested in any opinions and/or suggestions you may have. Feedback, queries and (ahem) bug reports should go to: webscannerbeta (at) kaspersky (dot) com

Dear Kaspersky,

Our (Para-)Olympic sports club was hacked 2 months ago and as a result of that now listed on Virustotal.com under Kaspersky as a Phishing site.

Meanwhile the site has been cleaned and completely updated. Can you please remove your phishing results.

Thanks in advance

Wim van Grimbergen

Sportsclub s.v. de Grensstreek Belfeld

The entry-level option is Kaspersky Anti-Virus, which is the basic antivirus software. Next up, Kaspersky Internet Security adds features like an encrypted browser for banking and webcam protection. Kaspersky Total Protection adds parental controls, a password manager, and file backup. Security Cloud Includes antivirus, anti-ransomware, mobile security, password management, VPN, and parental controls. Plus, privacy tools, data leak detection, home Wi-Fi security, and payment protection.

To find out how each performed, I ran some tests. The idea was to gauge how each product fared using both real-time detection and a full system scan. I also ran quick scans to see how these performed and if they could detect the malware samples. I used test samples that are made available from EICAR (the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research) which simulate viruses coming in different forms over both secure and insecure connections. Finally, I also looked at some independent test lab results for both McAfee and Kaspersky to see if they matched my own results. The results are below.

Kaspersky successfully identified everything and blocked all samples in real time. All Eicar samples were disallowed, while the live samples were immediately deleted after being unlocked and unzipped.

I also ran a quick scan to see how this performed. The quick scan is a mini version of the full antivirus scanner. It does not check all the files on a machine but looks at the most likely places to find malware. McAfee detected none of the samples in quick scan mode. The quick scan mode on Kaspersky also failed to detect any of the samples.

The latest available Malware Protection Test from AV-Comparatives was published in September 2021. In the Malware Protection Test, viruses are on network drives and USB sticks and the malware scanner searches these drives for viruses. Another benchmark called Real-World Protection incorporates online threats to evaluate how well the entire suite works, not just the malware engine. I will look also look at the AV-Comparatives Real-World test from July-October 2021.

In the malware test, Kaspersky recorded a 99.90 percent success rate at protecting a PC from malware. This score ranks Kaspersky in the middle tier of all antivirus brands analyzed in this test.

In the Real World Protection test, McAfee also came out on top, protecting against 99.8 percent of online threats. The remaining 0.2 percent were user-dependent, meaning the user was given a choice to allow or block the threat. Kaspersky blocked 99.9 percent of online threats, with the remaining 0.1 percent resulting in the machine being compromised.

Both Kaspersky and McAfee scored a perfect 6.0 out of 6.0. The results show both McAfee and Kaspersky earned a 100 percent success rate at detecting established and known viruses discovered in the last four weeks before testing.

Overall McAfee performs slightly better in the most recently available lab tests, however both products were very impressive with zero false alarms and they were in the top bands of every test. McAfee achieved 100 percent in all but one test where it let the user decide to block or allow the threat for 0.2 percent of the threats.

Choosing antivirus software involves balancing robust protection with smooth system performance. To get a clear picture of how McAfee and Kaspersky perform, I combined my own tests with independent lab results.

To validate my findings, I turned to respected independent testing labs. AV-Comparatives and AV-Test results demonstrate that McAfee and Kaspersky rank highly in performance benchmarks, often exceeding industry standards. This suggests that while you might notice some system slowdown during initial full scans, both products are optimized to minimize disruption during your daily computer use.

Overall, McAfee might have a slight advantage in terms of everyday performance smoothness. However, both antivirus solutions will unlikely cause major slowdowns, ensuring a balance between protection and a responsive user experience.

First, I signed up and installed Kaspersky. It took just three clicks from the homepage to select my product and get to the checkout page. To complete my order and download the installation file, I was required to add my personal details and card payment information. Kaspersky automatically selects auto-renewal, but you can uncheck this box at the point of selection.

After the purchase went through, I was given a link to download the installer to my PC in about two minutes. The installer runs a five-minute application check, device check and a software check. After this step, it takes a few more minutes to set up the software and for McAfee to check for updates to ensure you have the latest version available.

I found it was really easy to access settings and schedule daily, weekly or monthly scans. Kaspersky adds an icon to the Windows system tray, which includes a handy shortcut to launch the Safe Money browser or parental controls.

The home screen displays a green check mark in the upper left-hand corner after a scan has been completed to confirm that your PC is protected, and I found this reassuring every time I opened up the app.

Thank you, this is a very thorough and informative analysis that is also objective at the same time. I am able to make an informed choice, though I have used Kaspersky for the last seven years but been considering changing. I am in a much better position to make an informed choice after reading this thorough review.

Kaspersky has an excellent antivirus scanner and some pretty good web protections. It caught all the malware samples I downloaded in my tests, and its anti-phishing protection detected most of the risky sites I tried visiting.

That said, I still believe Kaspersky Plus and Premium security suites are effective overall. These suites offer a high-quality antivirus scanner, useful features, and reasonable prices. Kaspersky is also one of the more transparent antivirus companies. Following accusations in 2017 that Kaspersky was involved in stealing US intelligence data for the Russian government, it has relocated its data processing centers to Switzerland, it established Transparency Centers worldwide, and it has been regularly passing SOC 2 audits since 2019 (most recently in June 2023).

Kaspersky comes with a good antivirus scanner and a ton of additional features that can significantly boost your online safety. For example, it offers really good anti-phishing protection to prevent you from visiting dangerous websites, parental controls to keep your kids safe online, and a pretty decent VPN to keep your browsing data private.

The phishing protection uses multi-layered detection methods to block potentially harmful websites, and the Safe Browsing mode works effectively with popular browsers. The on-screen keyboard and Safe Money features also offer added layers of security, particularly against keyloggers.

Kaspersky provides 3 packages: Standard, Plus, and Premium. These cover different numbers of devices, scaling up to 10 in the US with the Kaspersky Premium plan and 20 in a few other countries. Kaspersky also offers a basic free antivirus product, called Kaspersky Free. All paid plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee, giving you plenty of time to try them out.

During my testing, Kaspersky detected 100% of my malware samples, ranking it alongside top competitors like Norton and Bitdefender. Similar to Kaspersky, these brands also use a combination of signature databases and machine learning for optimal antivirus protection.

Kaspersky provides multi-layered web protection to detect and block malicious websites. The Safe Browsing mode (available for Edge, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox) compares the sites you visit against a database of malicious web addresses, and it also uses heuristic analysis to check URLs for suspicious behavior.

There are also several features that advanced users will appreciate. For example, Kaspersky includes port access detection (which works quite well), lets you modify individual packet rules, and change permissions on connections such as DNS over TCP or DNS over UDP.

As you can see, I had a higher ping and slower upload speed when connected to the VPN, but my download speed remained about the same. Even so, I could browse the internet without any noticeable difference in speed compared to when the VPN was switched off.

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